Experimental study on cavity flow natural convection in porous medium, saturated with an Al(sub2)0(sub3) 60% EG-40% water nanofluid

Abstract

Natural convection is convection where the fluid motion is driven by buoyancy forces. Porous media and nanofluids have an impact on the heat transfer capabilities of thermal systems. The present experimental study is part of ongoing research and lies at the intersection of buoyancy driven flow in a cavity, porous mediums and nanofluids. The nanofluid consists of Al(sub2)O(sub3) nanoparticles in the base fluid of 60% ethylene glycol (EG) and 40% water. A Rayleigh number range of 6 x 10(sup3) < Ra(sup*) < 1:6 x 10(sup4), for a volume fraction of 0.2% nanoparticles. The porous medium used is glass spheres of 16mm. In this research the effective viscosity of the nanofluid was determined experimentally while the effective thermal conductivity was available in the literature. The results showed that heat transfer is affected by both the porous medium and the nanofluid. The results show that the heat transfer in the case of porous media with nanofluid is more than the case of pure base fluid. However, more experimentation for a wider range of Rayleigh numbers will be a part of future works of this ongoing research.